Bitter Historical Feud Threatens Ukraine-Poland Alliance
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine signed a decree honoring World War II partisan fighters that has inflamed tensions with Warsaw. President Karol Nawrocki of Poland and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in December in Warsaw. Credit... Omar Marques/Getty Images By Maria Varenikova Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine June 21, 2026 Updated 2:07 p.m. ET; see also The Washington Post ,"Polish president strips Zelensky of honor after special forces unit’s renaming" (June 20) The two neighbors wholeheartedly support allying with the West and cooperating closely on military affairs, and are fully in agreement today in opposing Russian expansionism. But history gets in the way. Tensions between Poland and Ukraine escalated sharply on Saturday over a rancorous dispute over the commemoration of World War II-era figures. Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, said he would revoke his country’s highest state award, which was given to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukrain...